Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Harvest Moon Skytree Village, Fun But Boring

I love the Harvest Moon games. One of the first Harvest Moon games I ever played was Back To Nature for the Playstation 1. Who knew a farming game could be so much fun? It wasn't just about the farming though. You played as a boy who returned to your grandpa's farm to take over and start running it yourself. There were also the interesting townspeople, seasonal festivals, and different girls you could talk to and romance and choose to be your wife. There were all kinds of neat upgrades for your farm too like a greenhouse so you could have things like pineapples all year long.

The last Harvest Moon game I played was A New Beginning and I loved it. It was a little different, but in a good way because in this one you could choose to play as a boy or a girl. There were the interesting townspeople and one of them could do magic. There were the fun seasonal festivals and of course the farming. In this one though, you could have new animals like llamas and alpacas and make yarn with a yarn making machine. You could also pick a boy or girl to woo and get married. It was a lot of fun and I still pop it into my DS and play it.

I was genuinely looking forward to playing Harvest Moon Skytree Village when it was released because as I said I love the Harvest Moon games. The story explains that the land you're in is known as the Oasis of the Harvest Goddess. There were many people living in Skytree Village before and it was once lush and green, but the power of the Harvest Goddess waned and the land became dry and parched. It's up to you to help the Harvest Goddess by reviving the seven skytrees which will give the Harvest Goddess her power back and restore the land back to being lush and green again.

I started playing and you can play as a girl or a boy in this game. I chose a girl. I immediately noticed how different it was. Different is not necessarily a bad thing, but the tutorial did not need to be as long as it was. It's a bit slow and clunky and sometimes the camera angles aren't that great. You can turn the camera at least so you can get it to where you want it, but sometimes it looks very blocky and feels like you're playing Minecraft instead of a Harvest Moon game. The land you're farming can be a bit uneven, so you have to dig and move the soil around so you can have a flat surface to work with which can be a bit tedious. Once you get it to where you want it, you can till the soil and plant the crops for that season which is Spring when you start the game. There are also Harvest Sprites (servants of the Harvest Goddess) who can help you with your farming endeavors. One can help to make your crops flourish while another can help you water all your crops. They can only help once per day, but it is a nice bit of help to have.

Work those fields, honey!

There is a small village in this game. It starts with only a couple of townspeople and as you progress with the farming and reviving of skytrees, more people move into the village. Even after that, you only have a small group of people, about 18 of them and that's it. The villagers can give you requests like growing a certain type of flower or catching a specific type of fish in the river. For fulfilling those requests you get rewards like money or in one villager's case a recipe for grilled salmon. Some of these requests were fun for me (I loved growing all the pretty flowers), while others were an exercise in frustration. The fishing requests alone were a bit of a pain because you catch different types of fish at different times of day. So if I wanted to catch a Tilapia or a Perch, I had to know exactly what times they showed up in the river in order to catch them and fulfill the request. There was a lot of experimenting with this. The one good thing that came out of it is my fishing skill increased a lot.

The village itself is rather small and it feels like it's just there so you have something to explore and break up the tedium of farming. There really isn't much to explore in this game which for me was disappointing because I loved the exploration in A New Beginning and all the things you could do. It's sadly lacking in Skytree Village. You can upgrade a few things to your farm and you do have cute farm animals that add to the fun. There are a couple of mines in the game where you can find minerals and upgrade your farm tools which is pretty neat. I just wish there had been more to explore besides my farmland, the village, and two mines.

Making a run into the village.

This Harvest Moon game does have the option to romance a girl or boy to marry as well. You have to do different requests for them to increase their affection towards you. Once that is done, it's back to farming and reviving the skytrees. This isn't to say that Harvest Moon Skytree Village isn't fun because it is, but it is a little boring in places which is a little disappointing. I found myself playing for short periods of time and then saving my game so I could go do something else where as with New Beginning, I would play and play because I was having so much fun with it. For what it is Skytree Village is a nice game, but there are moments where it just doesn't feel like a Harvest Moon game and that's really too bad because I do like the series a lot.

Hug your cow today!

*Harvest Moon Skytree Village is available to play on the following platforms: Nintendo 3DS

About Me

I'm married and a mother, but manage to find time for my gaming, writing, and film viewing. I'm also a huge nerd when it comes to anything with Hello Kitty or giant robots. It's a living. Mother Gamer is just my opinion about my personal gaming experience and other nerdy things I love. You may not agree and that's okay. Variety is what makes the world an awesome place. Happy gaming!